08 - Victoria - Dubious Employ:

I left the Inn with a mere three hundred and fifty odd gold, determined to lighten my load, and increase my wealth. As I began to explore the streets I was approached by a wood elf named Glarthir, who apparently wanted to meet me behind the church at midnight, to avoid being seen together. He certainly seems paranoid. however I think I shall meet him; for I feel that if need be I can kill him, but before then I shall milk him for all he is worth...

The day is yet young, and I made the most of it through selling my goods. My first stop was a store run by the trader Gunder, whom I ingratiated myself with, before getting down to the real business of selling; after all, I wanted the best prices. Despite my success, I was getting perhaps half of the items true value, yet it is still an improvement - and I left the store with eight hundred and thirty gold to my name. Exiting the building, I noted both the fighters guild and the mages guild; which I made a mental note to later visit

However my next stop was the alchemists, at which I again 'befriended' the shopkeeper, Falanu Hlallu, before selling my surplus equipment. I then mixed what potions and poisons I could from the ingredients I had collected ,and sold them on, earning me a gratifying amount considering the minimal effort involed; and I departed with one and a half thousand gold.

Assuming that the castle was the most likely place to be responsible for house sales I approached it, an impressive looking structure.

My visit was short however, for I was not allowed to meet the count, for reasons which were not specified. Instead I was told to contact the counts butler; an Orc of all people, by the name of Shum Gro-Yurug'. Returning to the town proper I found him walking in the streets, but despite growing to like me, he still remained reluctant to discuss the housing. Although I hid it well, I found this infuriating. How dare an inane Orc prevent me from having my way!? I shall return in time and solve this dilemma, however for now I shall postpone this task.

Moving then to the mages guild, I chatted briefly with the members, before meeting the head of that branch on the top floor of the building. Her name was Adrienne Berene, and while happy to let me join the guild she would only provide a reference to the Arcane University if I completed a task for her, although she didn't say this in so many words. Her communication is... strange, but be that as it may I am now an Associate in the Mages Guild.

The task is to find 'Erthor', who hadn't been seen for some time. Asking around I discovered that Adrienne, who appears rather absent minded, had sent Erthor away to a cave, and it is there that I shall begin my investigations, when I get around to them. Druja, an Argonian, marked the cave upon my map, so I should have little difficulty getting there. While I was speaking with Druja I bought a basic telekinesis spell, which entertained me a great deal over the next few dull days.

Dull? It transpired that the paranoid wood elf believed he was being followed, and he asked me to stalk those of whom he had suspicions. I must confess I was initially a little curious, and as he was willing to pay me I agreed to trail a woman. Waiting outside her house that morning I was approached by a man, who suggested that I avoid associating with Glarthir. Although I was curt with him at the time, I later began to secretly agree, for the woman transpired to be a simple farmer - making the days 'stalking' extremely monotonous. Upon reporting this to Glarthir he appeared disbelieving, but paid me one hundred and fifty gold all the same, before telling me a new person to follow. The pattern repeated, and this time Glarthir seemed even more suspicious of my words, as I reported the innocence of the second individual. I rather suspect he will consider me to be a spy if I tell him that the last person he has tasked me to follow is innocent.

Innocent he appeared to be, as I followed the third and final man through his days activities; a vineyard owner. Upon returning to Glathir I decided to report that he had indeed been spying upon him, in large part out of interest to see what his reaction would be. His reaction was swift; for he wrote me a note asking me to assassinate the man I had reported as a spy, for which he would pay me one thousand gold. I was tempted by this offer, and ostensibly accepted it; however while I had no moral qualms regarding the murder, I felt that now was not the time to assassinate an innocent - and having seen his daily schedule I feared it would be difficult to kill him without being seen. This decided, I simply reported Glathir to the authorities, who claimed they would 'arrest' him. Some arrest it was, for he was simply hacked down by the blades of the guards; perhaps there was some substance to his paranoia after all?

He lay in a heap upon the floor, but upon searching his body I found little money - although a key to his house was there. Perhaps the thousand is in there, if indeed he ware not simply lying.

All in all this has been a relaxing few days, if a little dull - however my task is clear, I shall attempt to gain my reference to the Arcane University from Adrienne. The Skingrad guild appears to specialise in the magical school of Destruction, and certainly I saw a number of powerful spells for sale there. Too powerful for me to cast at this stage in my development, leaving me all the more eager for the skill and learning that the Arcane University may bring me.